The collection documents the creative work and personal life of Emily Dickinson, spanning her lifetime, from 1830 to 1886; her family and friends; and the early publication history of her work. It also includes material from Dickinson scholars Mabel Loomis Todd, Millicent Todd Bingham, Jay Leyda, and others. The collection includes original poems, manuscripts, and letters from Dickinson to family and friends; images of the poet, including the daguerreotype and silhouette; physical artifacts related to Dickinson; manuscript transcriptions; printers' copies and proofs; Mabel Loomis Todd's correspondence, research indices, and writings; and material from or about Dickinson's friends and family, including correspondence, photographs, objects, and scrapbooks.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on access:

Access to original material and artifacts is restricted for preservation reasons; high-resolution digital surrogates of all of the Dickinson manuscripts are available for use in the reading room. Permission from the Head of Archives and Special Collections is required to use original Dickinson material and should be requested in writing at least 24 hours in advance. Materials from other institutions which are included in the Emily Dickinson Collections cannot be duplicated, as indicated.

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish material from the Collection should be directed to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. All of Dickinson's poems and letters published before 1923 are in the public domain. Permission to quote from the Johnson and Franklin editions should be directed to Office of Copyrights and Permissions, Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-1499 (tel. 617-495-2600; fax 617-496-4677). It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830 to Edward Dickinson (AC 1823) and Emily Norcross Dickinson. She attended Amherst Academy from 1840 to 1847, then enrolled at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary from 1847 to 1848. She remained in Amherst for the rest of her life, and traveled only briefly to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

For virtually her entire adult life, Emily lived in the Dickinson home at 280 Main Street with her father, mother, and her younger sister, Lavinia, who Emily called "Vinnie." Her brother, (William) Austin (AC 1850) lived next door with his wife, Susan Huntington Gilbert, one of Emily's closest friends. Emily was very close to their three children, Ned (Edward) (AC 1884), Mattie (Martha), and Gib (Thomas Gilbert). After the death of her father in 1874 and her mother the following year, Emily remained in the family home, living alone with Vinnie. Emily died there on May 15, 1886, at the age of 55. Renowned for a severe reclusiveness that began when she was in her 20s, Dickinson maintained warm and close relationships with family and friends through the medium of letters, frequently containing poems. Some of her most frequent correspondents outside of her family were childhood friends Abiah Root and Emily Fowler (Ford); her friend and later sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert (Dickinson); Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican; Reverend Charles Wadsworth, a minister and poet; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, writer and liberal activist; Josiah Gilbert and Elizabeth Chapin Holland; and Adelaide Spencer (Mrs. Henry) Hills. A significant correspondent around 1858-1861 was a mysterious love interest who Dickinson referred to as "Master." It is not clear who this person may have been or what form any relationship between them took - only three draft letters by Dickinson to "Master" are known. Another important person Dickinson's life was Judge Otis Phillips Lord, with whom Dickinson had a romantic relationship starting in the late 1870s until his death in 1884.

Although Emily and Lavinia were very close, and Lavinia was aware that Emily wrote poetry, she was not aware of the extent of her sister's writing. Upon Emily's death, Lavinia discovered how prolific and talented her sister had been when she found 1,775 poems in Emily's bureau drawer. Emily wrote some 1,789 poems, some contained in letters to friends and family, some sewn together in little bundles called fascicles that Emily stored in her drawers, some written on scraps of paper like shopping lists or envelope flaps. Lavinia preserved the poems she found, distributing them between Mabel Loomis Todd and Susan Dickinson, but destroyed all of Emily's correspondence in accord with her sister's previously expressed wishes.

Within 10 years of Emily's death, three volumes of her poetry and two volumes of her letters were published by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, a woman with whom Austin had a long-term affair during his marriage to Susan. Emily Dickinson's niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi (Austin's daughter), also helped to publish her aunt's poetry beginning in 1914.

It was not until 1955, when Harvard published The Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas Johnson, that all of Dickinson's poetry was available in a single source. In 1960, Jay Leyda published The Years and Hours of Emily Dickinson, a chronological documentation of the events in the lives of Emily Dickinson and her family and friends. In 1998, Ralph W. Franklin, published The Poems of Emily Dickinson, which documents revisions and different versions of the poet's work.

Unknown during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson is known today as one of the world's most important and loved poets of all-time, in any language.

EMILY DICKINSON CHRONOLOGY

1813

Samuel Fowler Dickinson builds the "Homestead" on Main Street.

1820-1821

Samuel Fowler Dickinson serves on the building committee and provides major financial support for the construction of the first Amherst College building, South College.

Thomas Gilbert (Gib), Emily Dickinson's nephew, dies at the age of eight of typhoid fever.

1884 Mar 15

Judge Otis Lord dies.

1886 May 15

Emily Dickinson dies.

1886 May 19

Emily Dickinson's funeral in The Homestead library.

1890 Nov 12

Poems, the first published volume of Emily Dickinson's poetry, edited by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, is published by Roberts Brothers.

1891 Nov 19

The second series of Poems, edited by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, is published by Roberts Brothers.

1894 Nov 21

Letters of Emily Dickinson in 2 volumes, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, is published by Roberts Brothers.

1895 Aug 16

William Austin Dickinson dies.

1896 Sep 1

Mabel Loomis Todd edits the third series of Poems, published by Roberts Brothers.

1896 Nov 16

Lavinia Dickinson files a suit against Mabel Loomis Todd over a piece of land she had earlier deeded to the Todds at Austin's request. The case is decided in Lavinia's favor.

1899 Aug 31

Lavinia Dickinson dies.

1903 Jul 19

Martha Dickinson marries Alexander Emmanuel Bianchi, known as "Count Bianchi," of Russia at the Church of the Russian Embassy in Dresden, Germany.

1913 May 12

Susan Dickinson dies.

1914

The Single Hound, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi, is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1924

The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi, is published by Jonathan Cape.

1924

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson, is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1929

Further Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi, is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1931

Letters of Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, is published by Harper Brothers.

1932

Emily Dickinson Face to Face: Unpublished Letters with notes and Reminiscences by Martha Dickinson Bianchi is published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

1932 Oct 14

Mabel Loomis Todd dies.

1935

Unpublished Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson, is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1937

Poems by Emily Dickinson, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson, is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1943 Dec 21

Martha Dickinson Bianchi dies. She bequeaths The Evergreens to Alfred Leete Hampson, it later passes into the hands of his widow, Mary Landis Hampson.

1945

Bolts of Melody: New Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Millicent Todd Bingham, is published by Harper and Brothers.

1945

Ancestors' Brocades by Millicent Todd Bingham is published by Harper and Brothers.

1951

Emily Dickinson's Letters to Dr. And Mrs. Josiah Gilbert Holland, edited by Theodora Van Wagenen Ward, is published by Harvard University Press.

1954

Emily Dickinson: A Revelation by Millicent Todd Bingham is published by Harper and Brothers.

1955

The Poems of Emily Dickinson in 3 volumes, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

1955

Emily Dickinson's Home by Millicent Todd Bingham is published by Harper and Brothers.

1956 Mar 23

Millicent Todd Bingham donates the majority of the Emily Dickinson Collection material to Amherst College. The donation includes 850 poems and fragments, 350 letters, publication material, and objects, including the Dickinson daguerreotype and silhouette.

1958

The Letters of Emily Dickinson in 3 volumes, edited by Thomas H. Johnson and Theodora Ward, is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

1960

The Years and Hours of Emily Dickinson by Jay Leyda is published by Yale University Press.

1965 Jan

Amherst College purchases the Dickinson Homestead.

1965 Dec 1

Millicent Todd Bingham dies.

1983 Apr 18

A lock of Emily Dickinson's hair and letter to Emily Fowler (AC no. 72) are given to Amherst College by William R. Bailey in memory of his mother, Gillian Barr Bailey, and in the name of himself and his brothers and sisters.

1986

The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin, is published by Amherst College Press.

1988 Jan 3

Mary Landis Hampson, the last owner of The Evergreens, dies.

1991

The ownership of The Evergreens passes to the Martha Dickinson Bianchi Trust. The trust was established by Mary Landis Hampson in her will to preserve The Evergreens as a cultural resource.

1998

The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

1998

Emily Dickinson: A Letter is published by Amherst College Press. It is republished with a revised introduction in 2006.

2003 Jan

The Martha Dickinson Bianchi Trust transfers ownership of The Evergreens to Amherst College. The Emily Dickinson Museum is created, composed of The Homestead and The Evergreens.

2006 Dec

Three additional Dickinson manuscripts and an envelope (Ms. 53-56) are given to Amherst College by Thomas Michie.

This chronology was adapted from The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson, edited by Wendy Martin; The Life of Emily Dickinson by Richard Sewall; and Archives and Special Collections files.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Emily Dickinson Collection documents the creative work and personal life of Emily Dickinson, spanning her lifetime, from 1830 to 1886; her family and friends; and the early publication history of her work. The Collection also includes material from Dickinson scholars Mabel Loomis Todd, Millicent Todd Bingham, Jay Leyda, and others. The bulk of the material falls into the period 1850-1955. The Collection occupies approximately 20.5 linear feet of shelf space.

This collection includes original poems, manuscripts, and letters from Emily Dickinson to family and friends; images of the poet including the daguerreotype and silhouette; physical artifacts related to Emily Dickinson; manuscript transcriptions; printers' copies and proofs; Mabel Loomis Todd's correspondence, research indices, and writings; and material from or about Dickinson's friends and family, including correspondence, photographs, objects, and scrapbooks.

Since material in the Collection had been rearranged before it was received, there is no evidence of original order. The majority of the manuscripts were organized, listed and numbered by Jay Leyda prior to donation in 1956. After donation to Amherst, the manuscripts remained in the order given by Leyda and researchers used a card catalogue system created by him for access to the materials. Between 1999 and 2006, the Collection was reviewed and arranged and described following current archival standards, while maintaining the previous Leyda manuscript numbers. The result is more detailed access to information in all parts of the Collection. When possible, documentation about previous handling was maintained.

Information on Use

Terms of Access and Use

Restrictions on access:

Access to original material and artifacts is restricted for preservation reasons; high-resolution digital surrogates of all of the Dickinson manuscripts are available for use in the reading room. Permission from the Head of Archives and Special Collections is required to use original Dickinson material and should be requested in writing at least 24 hours in advance. Materials from other institutions which are included in the Emily Dickinson Collections cannot be duplicated, as indicated.

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish material from the Collection should be directed to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. All of Dickinson's poems and letters published before 1923 are in the public domain. Permission to quote from the Johnson and Franklin editions should be directed to Office of Copyrights and Permissions, Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-1499 (tel. 617-495-2600; fax 617-496-4677). It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in Emily Dickinson Collection [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

History of the Collection

History of the Collection and its Organization

The majority of the materials in the Emily Dickinson Collection were given to the College on March 23, 1956, by Millicent Todd Bingham, the daughter of David Peck Todd (AC 1875) and Mabel Loomis Todd, and herself a Dickinson scholar and editor. The original collection consisted of 850 poems and fragments of poems; 350 letters, notes, and drafts to and from family and friends; the daguerreotype and silhouette of Emily Dickinson; and the extensive correspondence and publication material of Mabel Loomis Todd and Millicent Todd Bingham. The majority of the Dickinson manuscripts were given to Mabel Loomis Todd by Lavinia Dickinson after her sister's death. Others were gathered by Todd from Dickinson's correspondents through personal request and a number of well publicized efforts to gather Dickinson material. Millicent Todd Bingham inherited these from her mother. The remainder of the materials in the collection came to Amherst College from various sources beginning in 1936 and continuing to the present.

Information About Books Owned, Inscribed or Attributed to Ownership by Dickinson

Archives and Special Collections owns a number of books that were owned, inscribed by or attributed to the ownership of Emily Dickinson. The books are listed below; additional information is available through the Amherst College Library catalog.

Because of the Dickinson family's extensive connections with the College and the town, the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections has information about Emily Dickinson and her family beyond what is found in this collection. See the following collections for additional material:

Emily Dickinson Photocopy Collection (photocopies of restricted access manuscript material in the Emily Dickinson Collection, for use by scholars)

Dickinson Related Materials Collection (material relating to Emily Dickinson created after her death)

Biographical Files (includes material on family members and friends associated with the College)

Catalogued Books (Amherst College has an extensive collection of published editions of Emily Dickinson as well as scholarly works)

The Emily Dickinson Museum consists of two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts, closely associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson. The Evergreens, next door, was home to her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children.

The Emily Dickinson Museum was created in 2003 when the two houses merged under the ownership of Amherst College. The Museum is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about Emily Dickinson's life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance, and to preserving and interpreting the Homestead and The Evergreens as historical resources for the benefit of scholars and the general public.

Series 1, POEMS AND LETTERS, contains Dickinson's manuscript poems and letters and some letters and documents from others, as well as some transcriptions of poems and letters.

Arrangement:

The poems and letter in this series were largely organized by Jay Leyda in the 1950s when the collection was still in private hands. The order and numbering system that he gave to the collection is maintained because it has been widely referenced. Manuscripts are ordered by "Amherst number." Amherst numbers are alternatively known as "Leyda numbers." Manuscripts are most frequently cited by the numbers assigned to them by Ralph Franklin in his The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition (1998) or by Thomas Johnson in his The Poems of Emily Dickinson (1955) and The Letters of Emily Dickinson (1958). Appendix 1 is a conversion table that shows the correlation between Amherst numbers (A#), Franklin numbers (F#), Johnson numbers (J#) and first lines. A card index and electronic database listing the poems and letters are also available in the repository.

Leyda's numbering system generally gives one number to each individual poem or letter, exceptions include letters from others that were enclosed with an Emily Dickinson letter. His numbering scheme can be read as follows:

A single number (#) indicates one sheet of paper with writing on one side.
A number followed by a comma (#, #a) indicates one sheet of paper folded to create two leaves with writing on each leaf.
A number followed by a semicolon (#; #a) indicates two sheets of paper.
A number followed by a slash (#/#a) indicates one sheet of paper with writing on both sides.

A number followed by a hyphen and a second number (#1-#2) indicates one side of one sheet of paper that contains two poems.

Following this scheme, the manuscript number 224/224a; 224b refers to two sheets of paper, the first of which is written on both sides. The manuscript number 522, 522a; 522b, 522c refers to two sheets of paper, each folded to create two leaves, with each leaf having writing on it. And the manuscript number 132-133/132a refers to one sheet of paper with two poems on one side and writing on the second side. Manuscripts 80 to 1012 were arranged by Jay Leyda prior to their donation to Amherst College by Millicent Todd Bingham. Manuscripts 1 to 79 came to Amherst at other times or from other sources and were assigned numbers by Amherst cataloguers.

Manuscript poems generally are numbered between 80 and 540. Manuscript letters generally are numbered between 550 and 1012, with many of the later numbers being letters written by authors other than Dickinson. At the end of Series 1 can be found items without Amherst numbers, including blank papers and non-manuscript material relating to individual manuscripts.

Restrictions on access:

ACCESS TO ORIGINAL DICKINSON MANUSCRIPT POEMS AND LETTERS IS RESTRICTED FOR PRESERVATION REASONS. Researchers use high-resolution digital surrogates of the manuscripts in the first instance. Requests to consult the original manuscripts should be directed to the Head of Archives and Special Collections at least 24 hours in advance and should provide a specific explanation of the need.

The following terms represent persons, organizations, and topics documented in this collection. Use these headings to search for additional materials on this web site, in the Five College Library Catalog, or in other library catalogs and databases.